Mothers and Daughters
by Rosesdancinginmymind
Summary: Based on a prompt from Regina fan - Cora is still alive. Zelena tries to hurt Regina by taking Cora away from her. She goes to hurt Cora but Regina gets in the way. Cora goes to the hospital with Regina and waits by her bedside. Full prompt inside.


_Cora is still alive and is living with Regina when Zelena comes in angry. She wants to hurt Regina and take Cora away from her. Zelena goes to hurt Cora with magic but Regina gets in the way and she is hurt. Cora goes over to Regina and she is angry with Zelena for hurting her baby. Cora goes to hospital with Regina and stays by her bedside she tells her she loves her and that it's her fault the way Zelena turned out the way she did and that she's sorry and wants to be a better mother. - Regina fan_

_Thank you for the prompt. Italics in this story is a dream. I don't own Once or its characters. Apologies for any mistakes. Hope you enjoy :)_

Cora watches her daughter carefully as Regina moves around the kitchen. She said she was okay after her fight with Zelena but seeing her go through the clock-tower is up there on the list of the most terrifying moments in her life. Regina turns round at the feel of her mother's worried gaze. "Mother I'm fine," she says setting down a plate of pancakes. Cora reaches for her daughter's wrist gently rubbing it in a way she's learned soothes the younger woman, "I'm just worried about you."

"If only you'd worried about Zelena back then," Regina replies quietly shrugging off her mother's touch before sitting down at the table. Cora frowns sadly but she can't argue. This is her fault after all. She gave Zelena up in her pursuit of power. She ruined Regina's childhood and most of her early adulthood in her quest of power. She sighs knowing that her actions hurt both her children and most likely irreparably.

Before Zelena showed up her relationship with Regina was improving. They'd been going to therapy and working through old issues. She's been living here since her heart was returned and things had been going okay. Then Zelena showed up. Cora knows she should have told Regina. She just didn't know how. _Even now I still end up hurting her_ she thinks with a frown. She loves her daughter. She wishes her past actions would stop hurting her.

She gave Zelena up. She's the reason Zelena did not have the life she seems to covet so much. If only Zelena would realise the life she gave Regina was nothing to be jealous of. Regina had power, true, but Cora has learned that there is much more to life than power. Family and love being the main two.

Zelena isn't coming after her though. The target of all her rage is her younger sister and that upsets Cora even further. She thinks she could handle it if Zelena went after her. However her elder daughter knows that to hurt Cora that she has to hurt Regina. It all leaves Cora feeling so helpless. She cannot save either daughter. She has one unwilling to listen and another who is being punished for her past mistakes.

"Isn't this sweet? A family breakfast."

Both Regina and Cora look up as green smoke swirls in the kitchen before revealing Zelena. The red haired woman walks around the table before tutting, "I guess my invitation got lost in the mail."

"What do you want Zelena?" Regina asks tersely. She's in no mood to deal with her sister after their fight yesterday.

"Is that anyway to talk to your sister?" Zelena asks with a small chuckle, "Especially when I've come to do you a favour."

Cora frowns suspiciously, "What kind of favour?"

Zelena narrows her eyes angrily at her before turning back to her sister, "You keep complaining that I have no idea what your life was like boohoo," she mocks, "So I thought I'd show you what it's like not to have a mother at all."

Regina tries her best to school her features but her face pales. Their past may have been painful but they've been moving forward. Over the past few months they've developed a relationship to the point where she feels she actually has a mother. She doesn't want to lose her now.

Zelena stalks closer to her sister, "May as well say your goodbyes sis."

"Never," Regina replies, "She kept me remember?"

Zelena glares, her lip curling into a snarl, "Yes and yet you're so ungrateful. She gave you everything and you still do nothing but complain about it. I told you I would take everything from you and I will."

"Stop," Cora says standing and walking towards her daughters, "I gave her nothing but misery."

"She had everything!" Zelena shouts fury dancing in her eyes, "She was a queen. You picked her. Rumple picked her. Everyone picks Regina well not anymore."

"Your fight is with me not her," Cora says, "_I_ gave you up. If you're going to be mad at anyone be mad at me."

Zelena cocks her head before grinning coldly at her mother, "I am. I didn't know how to hurt you mother," she spits the word out venomously before continuing, "Now I do. I'm going to you away from her." She doesn't know why she didn't think of it sooner. It's an ideal way to hurt both of them.

Regina frowns as she senses something growing in the air. She can feel the magic brewing in the small kitchen. Whilst Zelena is occupied staring down her mother she circles the table to be where they are.

Zelena raises her hands.

Cora shuts her eyes wishing she could at least give her daughter a goodbye.

Zelena lets the magic shoot out of her palms.

She doesn't see Regina shoving their mother out their way.

"Regina!" Cora shouts as she collides with the kitchen counter. She ignores Zelena staring at them in confusion and kneels down beside her still daughter. "Regina," she says softer gently shaking her daughter's shoulder as tears build in her eyes. Nothing happens. Her daughter remains lifeless on the kitchen floor.

Cora can feel the anger rising in her body. She turns to Zelena with a furious scowl, "What the hell did you do?!"

Zelena chuckles before standing over them with a triumphant smirk, "Well it wasn't what I planned but it will do." She leans in to her mother, "You gave me away and now I've taken her from you. You can't choose something you don't have."

Cora lunges for her daughter but Zelena disappears. She screams as her frustration and anger boils over ready to tear this kitchen apart in her rage until her daughter coughs. That small cough tears her back to reality and she runs back over to Regina. She clasps her baby's hand, "Stay with me Regina," she pleads as she dials 911.

* * *

The room is filled with the sound of monitors. Outside Cora can hear doctors and nurses bustling around. Occasionally one comes in to check on Regina. Nothing changes. Nothing will until she wakes up.

Whale told her they won't know the effects of the magic until Regina wakes up. Cora can only pray that she'll wake up and be okay. She doesn't know what she'll do if she isn't. Regina saved her life. She pushed her out of the way of Zelena's magic. _It should be me in that bed _she thinks sadly as she holds her daughter's hand tightly.

She's lost track of how long she's been sitting there. She doesn't care how long it takes. She'll sit there until Regina wakes up and long after. She's spent so much time being a terrible mother but she's trying to do better and she will. It's her fault that Zelena turned out so vengeful and bitter. Regina shouldn't be the one to suffer the consequences of her mother's actions. It isn't fair to her daughter.

The monitors reassure her. Their steady beep is what reminds her that her daughter is alive, that her heart is still beating and that she's still breathing. She needs that sound to reassure her. Staring at her daughter's prone form only fills her with fear. The beeps remind her that she is just sleeping not worse. She dreads the worst.

_Please be okay _she wishes silently as she brushes some stray hair away from Regina's face.

Whale told her that Regina's strong, that she's survived worse than this. All that did was remind of how much her daughter has been through. She thought of death curses, electrocution and various fights that left her hurt or unconscious. Regina's strong but she's already been through so much, does she really need to go through more?

She tells herself to have hope. She reminds herself that that her daughter is strong and that means she should beat this too. Cora needs her to. Maybe this will be the last trial she must endure. Cora hopes so and she'll do her best to make sure it is the last. Her daughter has been through far too much already.

"I love you darling," Cora says breaking the stark silence of the room. She doesn't know if Regina can hear her. Just in case she's said it every ten or so minutes in the hopes that it gets through to her daughter.

Hours pass by with no sign of life from Regina aside from those monitors. Cora does her best to stay awake needing to be there when Regina finally open her eyes. As the tenth hour passes she can feel exhaustion drag her down into sleep.

_She frowns as she opens her eyes to see a graveyard. The air chills her to her bones and she shivers. Her fist is wrapped tight around a small bouquet of flowers. Lilies. Her favourite. She can feel the sting of tears on her cheeks. _

_A bitter cackle cracks through the icy silence and she flinches feeling a familiar surge of anger. For a second magic tingles at her fingertips but she remembers her promise and lets it fade away._

_"Oh dear, what a shame," the voice taunts. _

_She turns to find her eldest daughter smirking at her. "Can't choose her over me now can you mother?" _

_Cora remains silent as Zelena wanders forward, "For all that talk of how powerful she was it really didn't take much to take her down did it? How pitiful." _

_"Shut up," Cora says through gritted teeth, "She was your sister." _

_Zelena scoffs, "Was she? Did I get to grow up with her? Did we get to play together or braid each other's hair? No. You made sure of that. You really did a number on us didn't you? You abandoned me and ruined her life. What a waste. All that power and potential and all you did was ruin her. You could have had it all with me but you tossed it aside. Now look what happened." _

_"I lost her because of you," Cora spits angrily._

_"And why was she there for me to take? You robbed me of everything. Tit for tat mother. I thought you'd be proud. I saw weakness and I removed it for you." _

_"I am not proud of you Zelena, you took my baby from me. I love her. You could have had a mother. You could have had me like she did. Instead you destroyed everything!"_

_"Did I? Who abandoned who? She's only here because she loved you," she leans into Cora, "Love is weakness mother, don't forget it." She grins seeing her mother's distraught expression before poofing away. _

_Cora kneels down in the dirt before placing the flowers reverently in front of the cool marble stone. "Love is strength Regina," she whispers, "She was wrong. You loved me even when I didn't deserve it. I'm so sorry I failed you." _

_Her tears drip down onto the cold marble as she traces her finger over the lettering that boasts her daughter's name. _

"No" she mumbles as she wakes from what is her worst nightmare. The thought of losing Regina at all sickens her. It's taken so long just to get to the point where they are mother and daughter. Losing her now would break her heart. Losing her at Zelena's hand would only mean that her daughter would have died for her mistakes. It's heart-breaking enough that Regina is suffering for them.

"Mama."

Cora's head snaps up at the quiet word. Her eyes fill with fresh tears as she sees exhausted eyes staring back at her, "Regina," she says reverently before moving her chair forwards so she can look her baby in the eyes when she makes her promise.

"How are you feeling?" she asks.

Regina groans, "Tired. Everything is sore but I'm alive. I'll be okay."

Cora smiles half-heartedly, "Thank you. You saved my life."

"I couldn't let you die."

"Why not? It could all have been over Regina. Without me"

"Stop," Regina says irritably before adding, "You're not dying. You're my Mom."

Cora's smile brightens at those words, "And you're my baby. I love you so much and I was so scared. I don't want you to hurt anymore Regina. I wish I could make her stop."

"It's okay," Regina says quietly.

"Not it isn't," Cora replies firmly, "You didn't hurt her Regina. I did. It's my fault Zelena is the way she is now. You've paid for enough of my past actions. You shouldn't have to pay for any more. None of this is your fault. It's mine. I'm the reason she's so angry and bitter. All this is my fault and that isn't okay. I owe you an apology. I owe you so many. Today I'm sorry that this happened again, that you're paying the price once more for one of my mistakes. You shouldn't have to keep sacrificing yourself to pay for the results of my choices Regina. I know you want to be a hero but you already are Regina and I don't want to lose you so please stop. Please just let me help you, let me bear the brunt of what I did to Zelena."

"She doesn't want you," Regina replies, "She wants me."

"Well I won't let her," Cora promises, "I'm going to be a better mother Regina. I want to be and that means protecting you. You don't have to fight my battles Regina. We're a family and that means you don't get to do this alone. I'm going to stand with you okay?"

Regina gives a small nod, "Okay," she murmurs before adding, "Don't do anything stupid."

Cora chuckles, "I won't. You and me Regina, we're going to get through this I promise."

"What do we do about Zelena?" Regina asks quietly.

Cora frowns. She doesn't know. She doesn't want her daughter to die but she knows she must be defeated. What she wants most for Zelena is for her to have the second chance Regina did. In spite of everything her youngest daughter has a happy ending. She wants to believe her eldest can too, she just doesn't know how.

In the end she shrugs, "I don't honey but we'll figure it out together."

Regina nods again before yawning. Cora smiles before kissing the top of her daughter's head, "Go to sleep," she says, "I'll be here."

"Love you," Regina mumbles sleepily.

"I love you," Cora replies stroking her daughter's hair until she falls asleep. When she does she settles back into the hospital chair and waits for her to wake again.

_Thanks for reading :) _


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